Objective 17| Define adolescence. Adolescence is the transition period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty to independence.
Objective 18| Identify the major physical changes during adolescence. Adolescence begins with puberty, the period of sexual maturation that enables reproduction. A surge of hormones triggers a two-year growth spurt, beginning at about age 11 in girls and age 13 in boys. Primary sex characteristics (the reproductive organs and external genitalia) and secondary sex characteristics (nonreproductive sexual characteristics such as a girl’s breasts and a boy’s deepened voice) develop during puberty, though the exact timing varies from one person to another. For most girls, menarche happens within a year of age 12. For most boys, spermarche occurs by about age 14.Heredity and environment interact, and other people’s reactions to early or late maturation can influence adolescents’ adjustment. There is also significant brain development during adolescence, with frontal lobe maturation and selective pruning of unused neurons and their connections
Objective 19| Describe the changes in reasoning abilities that Piaget called formal operations. With the development of formal operations, adolescents gain the ability to reason abstractly. This ability lets them form hypotheses and deduce consequences.
Objective 22| Explain how the search for identity affects us during adolescence, and discuss how forming an identity prepares us for intimacy. In Western cultures, most adolescents try out different selves before settling into a consistent and comfortable identity. A smaller number unthinkingly adopt the identity of their parents or, rejecting the values of parents and society, take on the identity of peers. Self-esteem increases with identity achievement. Erikson believed that having a clear and comfortable identity is a precondition for forming close relationships.
Objective 23| Contrast parental and peer influences during adolescence. Adolescents in Western cultures do tend to become increasingly independent of their parents, but researchers have found that most teenagers nevertheless relate to their parents reasonably well. Peer approval and relationships are very important, and teens talk, dress, and act like their peers. Parents continue to influence teens in such areas as religiosity and college and career choices.
Addresses APA goals: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8